


Deviation #6

by JayBarou



Series: Things that could have been Different in Endgame [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, fixit, pick and choose your pairing if you must
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 14:09:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18661960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayBarou/pseuds/JayBarou
Summary: The one where a past plot is exploited again





	Deviation #6

**Author's Note:**

> Or, without tiptoeing through the spoilers:  
> The one where Tony lives.

He woke alert because he heard a baby crying. The last five years had drilled into him pavlovian responses to babies crying, but he had also learned to recognize Morgan’s cries in a multitude. This wasn’t Morgan. This wasn’t his home. This was a hospital. He didn’t know if it was the shape of the doors, the smell or the beeping of a heart monitor what gave it away, but he relaxed.

He could not see much. It must be the middle of the night. There was a window, but no moon to shine on him. He wasn’t too fond of moons anyway. The only light in the room came from the door. It had a vertical glass from the top to the bottom and the lights in the corridor were on. 

There was an IV on his arm, the bag was dripping something, Tony hoped someone had told the docs not to use anything addictive.

What had happened exactly?

He remembered the battle, Thanos, the maddening feel of power that rushed through him when he realized he could do anything he wanted with the stones, and the dwarfing feel of how inconsequential he was in the grand scheme of things. He had only managed to grip sanity because he had something to do and he had accepted the sacrifice that needed to be done. He had said his piece and lived his life. 

Oh.

He was supposed to be dead. 

It should have been an easy thing to figure out, being in a hospital and all, but he had been in the hospital so frequently in the past that all the times merged.

A hand! That was it! There had been a hand in the last moment, clasping his own firmly. Power had coursed through them and then the blackout

Who had helped? Were they even alive?

The guardians of the galaxy were the ones who knew how to share the power of an Infinity Stone, but they had not been exactly discrete about it, so probably half the people in the battlefield knew about it. Particularly, the half who had not just been snapped back into life. That still left too many candidates.  

The soft beeping of a heart monitor made him look around more intently. The beeping was not his heart. There was another bed next to him but the bars of the bed didn’t let him see. Since he had private doctors at his disposal he figured that he was sharing the room for a reason. Either there were so many victims after the fight that space was needed, or he knew the person in the other bed.

He guessed this was the one who had shared the energy and saved him. 

With some effort, he reclined himself on the bed, leaning on his uninjured elbow. The painkillers were good enough to numb the pain of his mangled arm, so it must be strong.

His rustling had woken up the other patient, apparently. The sheets moved and the form underneath turned to face him. Tony had an unobstructed view of his personal guardian angel. His eyes widened.

 

**Author's Note:**

> And I leave it up to your shippy hearts to fill the blank. Was it Pepper? Was it Steve? Was it Quill? Mantis perhaps? What about Bucky? Stephen? Maybe even Peter? Who said Loki? (I did). I thought of making a chain of people and sharing the radiation with a bunch of people. Tony deserves all the love. But It was complicated. We can’t have Thanos just there waiting until they link hands, arms crossed, tapping impatiently on the ground.
> 
> Be green, friends, recycle a plot.
> 
> I accept suggestions for more Alternate Endgame ficlets.


End file.
